Freed
by crochetaway
Summary: The Dark Lord comes to free Bellatrix and Rodolphus Lestrange from Azkaban. Drabble. One-shot. Complete.


Bellatrix Lestrange was pacing her cell, her sanity had snapped long ago, before she had ever been imprisoned in Azkaban. Rodolphus Lestrange lay on the thin mattress and watched his wife pace. As she paced, Bellatrix mumbled to herself, Rodolphus was only able to hear her when she neared him she was speaking so quietly.

"…bottom, and then…" she muttered and turned and walked toward the bars of the cell again. On her return trip he heard, "… Alice's cat, but…." And she was turned again and heading back toward the front of the cell.

"Bella, sweet-ling, what are you going on about?" Rodolphus asked her with a sigh.

They had been locked up together in the same cell for fourteen long years. The first few years weren't too bad. You didn't become one of the Dark Lord's leading lieutenant's by being a slouch at Occlumency. And being an excellent Occlumens helped immensely against the dementors that roamed the halls of Azkaban. That had kept Rodolphus relatively sane, but as Bella deteriorated, he found himself unable to lose himself in her charms as they had the first few years. Ever inmate on their block had complained to them of their sick, twisted sexual fetishes they had indulged in the first few years. Being able to Occlude and still enjoy his wife's body had been torment for the dementors. They had swarmed the cell, drawn to Bella's energy, she was not a very good Occlumens. While, Rodolphus drove his wife to higher peaks, enjoying her so thoroughly that even the dementors eventually would leave.

"Roddy," Rodolphus shuddered at the nickname. She had started calling him that after the first few years in Azkaban. Like she was so insane, she couldn't remember his full name.

"I'm just going over the night we tortured the Longbottom's, do you remember Alice Longbottom's cat? She was most peculiar. I think it was McGonagall! And then…" Rodolphus stopped listening. Bellatrix went on and on about the night that landed them in Azkaban. They had Crucio'd the Longbottoms into insanity, spent more than three hours torturing them. Him, Bella, and their dear friend Barty Crouch, Jr. Rodolphus looked across the hall, that used to be Barty's cell. But a year or so ago, time was so difficult to keep straight here, Barty had been visited by his parents. And then after his parents had left, an old woman had appeared in Barty's place. Rodolphus chuckled when he saw it, what an ingenious way to escape prison. Clearly Barty's mum loved him very much to spend her dying days in prison, she had lasted less than a week.

Rodolphus was pretty sure that there were basically no records kept regarding Azkaban or it's prisoners. How could the guards not realize that the old woman they had incinerated was not the original prisoner in that cell? Did they not care? It appeared not. It had given Rodolphus a lot of ideas about trying his own escape. However, he had nobody on the outside who visited him. Nobody to help him plan it.

As he pondered his life and his wife's insanity, a large explosion rocked the prison. Rodolphus could hear screams from some of the other inmates. Bella turned toward him, he could see the excitement in her eyes, excitement he hadn't see in ten years or more.

"It's the Dark Lord! He's come back for me!" She cried out, she whipped toward the bars of the cell and reached her arms through, eagerly looking for any sign that the explosion heralded the arrival of the Dark Lord.

Soon they could see Death Eater's swarming the halls, they were checking each cell for their comrades who had been locked up. A man, with no nose, pale skin, a bald head, and red eyes came to stand in front of their cell. Rodolphus did not recognize him, until he spoke.

"Rodolphusss, Bellatrix, my mossst loyal ssservantsss," he hissed at them. Rodolphus shivered at the sound of that evil hiss and the look of his master now. He sank into a deep bow as Bella offered her own curtsy.

"My Lord, it is good to see you, at last," Rodolphus said as he straightened from his bow. The Dark Lord raised a brow and smirked at him. He whipped his wand and unlocked their cell door. He tossed Rodolphus a wand, but did not give one to Bella. As soon as the cell door unlocked, Bella was on her knees in front of the Dark Lord, she grasped him around his legs in a hug.

"My Lord! I have longed for the day to see and serve you again," she cooed at him, looking at him with adoring eyes. The Dark Lord looked at Rodolphus with another smirk. Rodolphus knew what he was asking, Bella had long been a favorite of the Dark Lord, but not because she was one of his lieutenants. No, Bella was a favorite because of the things she was capable of doing with her body. Rodolphus nodded permission to the Dark Lord.

"I've been locked in a cell with her for fourteen years, my Lord. I am ready to be rid of her for a while," Rodolphus told him, finally stepping out of the cell. The Dark Lord grinned at him, and Rodolphus could see his teeth had been filed down to points and he cringed inwardly. This was not the same man he had given his life to when he was in his twenties.

"Imperio," the Dark Lord hissed, his wand pointed at Bella's temple. Bella's face became a blank mask. She stood and took the Dark Lord's arm as they strolled out of the hole the Dark Lord had blown in the prison.

Rodolphus followed behind, already planning and plotting his life post Azkaban.

* * *

 **A/N: This was from the Death Eater Express group on Facebook. A drabble game posted, my prompt was:**

 **-Bellatrix Lestrange**

 **-Azkaban**

 **-Imperio**

 **-Alice Longbottom**

 **-A Cat**

 **-Rodolphus Lestrange**

 **Let me know your thoughts!**


End file.
